Hot off the press
For those who are new here, a quick bit of history. I began my writing life as an independently published author. I had a day job and although writing was my passion (and secret dream job) I didn’t want to put pressure on myself to make money. I just wanted to write and put my stuff out there, for better or worse.
Then, Blackstone Publishing (one of the largest independent audiobook publishers in the United States) got in touch and bought the Joseph Bridgeman series.
Since then, things have been somewhat manic… in a good way. You know how sometimes, in order to move forward you have to go back a few steps? Yeah. That’s been my life for the last year or so.
Joseph Bridgeman book 3 was well underway when my publisher suggested editing books 1 and 2 before re-releasing them. It wasn’t easy to go back – kind of like my own form of time travel – but I embraced it as a chance to learn, improve as an author and gain new skills. What an amazing process (baptism of fire!) and also an incredible opportunity to hone my craft. The core stories remain intact, but with the help of my wonderful editor, Jason Kirk, they’ve been scrutinised, refined and improved at every level. I’m currently working on the final draft of Book 2 and will then, later this year, be finally turning my attention back to book 3, which is set in Paris, 1873, around a mysterious opera house fire…
I’m really proud of the updated books, and I can’t wait to see what happens when they get sent back out into the world. My hope is that all of this hard work will give the series the best chance of wider success. I love writing about Joe’s adventures and just want as many people as possible to read and enjoy them. Simple really.
Release schedule
Books 1, 2 and 3 are scheduled to be released next year. The updated version of book 1 should be out in February, if all goes to plan, with a new title, a new cover and a new audiobook too! Book 2 should follow next autumn sometime.
I know for some of you the wait for book 3 has been stupidly, comically long. I can only apologise and hope that such a long gap between releases won’t happen again. I’m going to see if there’s a way I can ‘gift’ my reader group the new versions of books 1 and 2. Fingers crossed. It would mean a lot to me to be able to share the new versions with you, the readers who have supported me along the way. I will keep you posted.
Other Stuff
Digital content has taken on a whole new level of importance during lockdown. Here’s some of the best I’ve found.
Yin yoga, via Zoom – I have the usual author physical challenges of spending too much time at the keyboard. Yoga helps a lot. I miss the human interaction of the actual class, but Zoom has been a life-saver!
Film
Films are my biggest passion and for me, the perfect way to refill my creative inkwell. I can’t list them all, we’d be here for a week, but here are some of the stand-out movies I’ve seen over the past few months.
Knives Out – A detective investigates the death of the patriarch of an eccentric, combative family. HOW could the same writer/director, the one who utterly destroyed Star Wars with the abomination that was ‘The Last Jedi’, create this masterpiece of modern, “who done it” cinema? Rian, I forgive you for what you did to Luke. Nearly.
La Belle Époque – A couple in crisis. Victor, disillusioned, is given the chance to plunge back in time via an elaborate historical reenactment. He takes the opportunity to revisit the moment when he first met Marianne, in hopes of rekindling his love for her. Highly recommended, romantic little gem. It’s French, so I needed subtitles, but the story was so engaging I barely noticed.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse – Maybe you think animation superhero stuff isn’t your thing. Just watch it. It looks amazing and the unexpected and extremely creative story really nails it. Genuinely one of the best super-hero movies I’ve ever seen.
Jojo Rabbit – Watched the trailer, read the premise and was, like, what? Seriously?! But it’s genius. Pure genius.
The Peanut Butter Falcon – Shia LaBeouf does a road-trip (on a river). An adventure story reminiscent of a modern Mark Twain that begins when Zak (22), a young man with Down syndrome, runs away from the nursing home where he lives, to chase his dream of becoming a professional wrestler. An interesting, feel good movie with a great soundtrack too.
TV
Dave – TV series that stars a fictionalised version of ‘Lil Dicky’, a suburban neurotic man in his late twenties who has convinced himself that he’s destined to be one of the best rappers of all time. Along with Fleabag, Mandalorian and Knives Out this is the one I am telling EVERYONE to watch. I even managed to get a shout-out on a popular national radio show here in the UK last week to spread the word, so hopefully that drummed up a few thousand more viewers. I’ve watched the whole series twice now and on repeat viewing, it just gets better. This is how you do character. This is how you lure people into caring. Hilarious, real, honest, heartfelt. Dave has it all. Fair warning, it is VERY rude in places. Not for the easily offended!
Modern Love – Amazon Original romantic comedy anthology, based on a weekly column published by The New York Times. They drop the ball on a couple of episodes but still recommended for the ones they get VERY right.
The Mandalorian – As good as I hoped. Baby Yoda rocks! Watched the whole series x 2, like Dave. Might do another sitting before Season 2 is released. Yep, I’m hooked.
Books
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. ‘Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever.’ ANYTHING by Matt goes immediately to my Kindle. Very excited about this one.
Audio
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. A total wild-card. I thought it was time to stretch my vocabulary a little and try something different. Enjoying this one. Beautifully written. Evocative and transportive.
Playing
All other games have been crushed like tin cans in a black hole beneath the weight of Elite Dangerous. The entire galaxy is there, waiting to be explored. It’s been out for years (I actually backed it during the Kickstarter campaign) but now seemed like a good time to dive in. It is ‘grindy’ (if that’s a word) and at times almost boring, but for some reason I love it. It scratches my itch to disappear into the void, to boldly go where no man has been before etc. It’s like a second job. I actually have a to-do list in Evernote!
Anyway, that’s it for now. I hope you are staying safe and sane in what has been the maddest year I can remember.
